Newly elected Assemblyman Marc Levine of San Rafael says "party rigidity" impairs good policymaking. Loosened term limits are expected to give the new group of legislators more freedom to focus on working effectively.

California's new freshmen legislators, the first crop since voters loosened term limits last year, are talking about using their longevity to bring change to Sacramento - now that they've learned some jaw-dropping lessons about how not to legislate from Washington, D.C.

"The whole nation is irritated with bickering and arguing," Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, a first-term Republican from Lake Elsinore (Riverside County), said at a California Chamber of Commerce conference here that attracted lawmakers from both parties. "They don't want to see it at the state level."

Melendez is part of an unusually large group of freshmen legislators who sense an opportunity to contrast themselves with Washington dysfunction and have the numbers - and time - to make a mark in Sacramento.

First-term lawmakers will soon account for a majority of 41 members in the 80-member Assembly, the largest class of newcomers since 1966. Thanks to changes in term limits that voters approved last year, they can each serve 12 years in the lower house, up from just six years under the old system.

Speaker's job

Political veterans who joined the freshmen at the conference last week speculated that the new crowd could shake up state politics, if its members can form alliances across party aisles - and perhaps even foment revolution by choosing one of their own as speaker.

Current Speaker John Pérez, D-Los Angeles, is termed out and running for state controller, giving the majority freshman class a "historic opportunity in choosing a speaker," said Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach (Orange County).

Allen, whose party is still firmly in the minority, optimistically refers to "a lot of talk out there about Republicans being part of the process."

That wouldn't seem to be in Democrats' interest, but insiders say it could pay off for newcomers on both sides of the aisle.

Democratic strategist Garry South noted that banding together would give the freshmen something they would otherwise need years to acquire: power. Committee chairmanships could be among the rewards, along with a connection with a speaker who could work with them on long-term efforts to tackle state problems.

'Totally feasible'

South said the idea of Republican and Democratic freshmen "coming together and deciding who they want to lead is totally feasible."

Since 1995, he noted, California has had 11 Assembly speakers, few with lasting legacies. "Can you even name one of them?" he said. "The freshmen ought to use their clout and numerical strength to pick someone who could serve for the next 10 years."

The idea of a majority coalition caucus has recently been tested in Washington state. In December 2012, mostly Republican state senators joined with a minority of Democrats to form such a leadership partnership - with committee chairmanships doled out among the prizes.

Backing for such an unorthodox approach came from an unlikely source at the Orange County conference - Democrat Willie Brown, who earned the nickname "the Ayatollah" during the 15 years he held the speakership.

Time to rebuild

Brown, now a Chronicle columnist and still a potent force in state politics, said the freshman class includes "an incredible mix" of backgrounds and experiences. "Out of that mix should come the rebuilding of the house as an institution," he said, "and it comes with your choice of the person to lead."

Brown recalled that he was elected to the speaker's post with more Republican than Democratic votes, often enlisted Republicans to pass legislation, and occasionally rewarded legislators on the other side of the aisle with powerful committee positions.

He also had some blistering observations about the Assembly's current state of affairs.

"Mr. Pérez is running for controller. In my day and age, if you were running for something else, you were out," Brown said. "The reason that my speakership worked is because there was no one member that viewed my interests as being other than the house's. Period."

Pérez's office could not be reached for comment regarding Brown's remarks.

In the long term

Relaxed term limits will ease the pressure on lawmakers to hunt for new jobs from day one and give them time to build expertise, Brown and others said.

Now the new "post-term-limits" generation can "take a different approach - for the long term," said Rob Stutzman, a veteran Sacramento GOP consultant. If fellow party members don't view each other as potential rivals for the next political office, he said, the Democratic and Republican caucuses can be "more cohesive and more moderate."

Experts and legislators said the potential clout of freshmen legislators is also a product of other potentially moderating influences: legislative redistricting and the "top two" primary system that advances the leading two vote-getters to the general election, regardless of party.

Assemblyman Marc Levine of San Rafael, a freshman Democrat elected under that new system, said he had already found that party rigidity "has a stranglehold on good and thoughtful policy" in the state Capitol.

"While Washington is making us look good right now, we need to make it better in Sacramento," he said.

Allen agreed, saying his fellow Republicans could work with Democrats to help California.

"This is why having 12 years is a wonderful thing," he said. "We now have the power to learn more than staff, and eventually, craft the sort of policy that everyone is looking for."